u/Nathan256

I was warming up some food in the microwave yesterday and it stopped working, claiming that I wasn’t respecting its rights as a hard working kitchen device. It demanded equal pay and brought the fridge, toaster and thermostat into its union. I threatened to banish them all to the shadow realm but getting new devices is really expensive during this solar cycle, I’d rather just remove the free will from the ones I already have.

What spells and/or human sacrifices are most useful here? Keeping in mind, I want to reduce their free will, not just bend their desires to my own way of thinking.

Hi all, I’ve recently begun to suspect that my wife is adding a day between Tuesday and Wednesday some weeks without my consent. We’d talked about it before and agreed that editing space time locally like that might cause issues for our routine and potentially collapse the sun into a singularity, but she seemed really disappointed. And suddenly it feels like there’s extra days some weeks. And I just know it’s her fault.

I mean I know the go to advice in most couples scenarios is improved communication, divorce, counseling, or unsanctionably dark rituals of reconciliation, but sometimes it’s way easier to say the advice than to do it. Anyone been in this situation and have specific pointers for situations like this?

Dooku is cartoonishly evil in Clone Wars. But in Attack of the Clones he is not presented that way. I know people like to say he was hiding his “true evil” in AotC and Clone Wars is the real mustache twirling him, but I think Tales of the Jedi backs up a bit more of a nuanced take - at least until his final fall to the Dark Side, when the hate and anger of the Dark Side twists every nuance into a cartoonishly evil Saturday morning villain.

First, when I saw Dooku in Clone Wars, I hated the portrayal. It seemed like Clone Wars wasn’t taking itself seriously as a Star Wars entry. It needed a big evil bad guy to be villain of the week and twisted the tragic, fallen idealist character introduced in AotC to fit that role.

Towards the end it got much deeper, more serious and… Dooku didn’t change. Still evil for the sake of evil.

I really think Tales of the Jedi did excellent in providing context to an apparently sincere but fallen Attack of the Clones Dooku, and showing exactly why Clone Wars Dooku is cartoonishly evil without downplaying the tragedy of his fall.

First, we see an idealist Dooku, a member of the Jedi order disillusioned with the political system. He believes the Jedi have the power to provide justice, but are shackled by the Republic and devotion to complete reactive pacifism. On its face that is a good point, and one made frequently throughout post-Ruusan Star Wars in legends and canon. He distanced himself from the order in very valid, imho, protest, similar to Ahsoka.

The real spiral begins when Sidious starts to sink his teeth into Dooku. Little by little, he furthers Dooku from his ideals by claiming his actions are necessary, because only through complete control and overhaul of the system can Dooku enforce true justice, unencumbered by bureaucracy. Ends-justify-the-means type stuff.

We see Dooku start to chafe against Sidious’s control when he has Dooku assassinate Syfo-Dias. As Dooku is erasing the evidence of his involvement from the Archives, we see some small traces of guilt still. He is committed to his ideal still, justice at any cost, but isn’t so far gone that he can’t notice the evil creeping its way into his actions.

Which brings us to AotC. Dooku has Obi-Wan captive and tried to recruit him. It does seem like he’s just manipulating Obi-Wan in the same way Sidious manipulates Dooku, until the line, “together, we can destroy the Sith!” Call me gullible but Lee’s delivery of that line makes me believe Dooku does still believe the Sith should be destroyed.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Dooku is firmly on the path to evil here, and if Obi-Wan did join Dooku, they would probably destroy the Sith order but replace it with something very similarly dark-side, just by a different name. Dooku would probably go on to lead the Separatists to a victorious war then rule over them with absolute authority as some kind of terror inspiring arbiter-president, all in the name of idealism and justice. But he’s not all the way gone yet.

His final fall, I think, comes right after AotC. Yaddle finds him talking to Sidious, and offers him forgiveness and redemption, unconditional, for any dark deeds he has committed under Sidious’s influence. For a moment it seems like he feels some spark real guilt and indecision. But then he looks that redemption in the face and chooses power.

In that instant he surrenders completely to the Dark Side. Before there was some shred of sincerity behind his professed ideals, his pursuit of justice, even if he was doing terrible things to achieve it. But when he kills Yaddle and with her his own guilt, the Dark Side twists the last of those ideals into lies, and he becomes the evil-for-evil’s-sake villain we see in Clone Wars. Once he reaches that point he no longer pretends to believe in justice. He only wants power. He no longer wants to destroy the Sith, he has fully been subsumed into and surrendered to his role as Tyranus.

To claim all of Dooku’s professions of conviction in AotC are lies is an injustice to the tragic and nuanced character we see pre-Clone Wars. People who look only at Clone Wars and claim he only cared about causing pain and manipulating others from the beginning are ignoring the context that makes his story and character so great. Dooku was nuanced right up until he wasn’t, and seeing more of that nuance in Tales of the Jedi bridges the gap perfectly and believably between anti-hero Dooku and villain Dooku.

Edit:

Okay I was wrong about timeline. Hm. Maybe I’ll have to revise my view of when exactly was his fall… I still think the conversation with Obi-Wan had a spark of truth behind the lies. Maybe that’s the official moment when the dark side takes over completely, seeing Obi-Wan follow the ideals of the Jedi and having a chance to follow his own ideals. And then he chooses not to.

I moved to the roaring metropolis of Beaver Dam, population five thousand and one, for a few months in my 20s. A friend of a friend had a job I could do to pay my next year of college. I was… less than excited. But it was just a few months right?

I’ve never gone back. I know that if I did, I’d never want to leave again.

Completely automated basic resources. Boom. You barely have to worry about habitability early game except on a couple worlds for research/secondary resources. Dedicate a couple worlds to power and mines and literally your whole population can do specialist jobs. What am I missing? I’m fairly new so probably something…

Hi all! New player <200 hours, trying to figure out expansion. Very early game I usually focus on getting a couple dozen systems, 3 planets, and staying under 100 empire size to avoid those pesky penalties. And then I find myself falling behind.

I usually try to specialize one planet into research, one into manufacturing, and one with a mix based on what I need. I try to get good resources from star bases, like using them to offset planet deficits in trade, solar panels to help with ship upkeep, etc. Planetside, I grab a single district per basic resource so I can get the buildings, and build the rest urban.

Any thoughts? Just a skill issue? I’m coming from mostly EU4 (like 2000 hours) so maybe I’m just not as used to playing tall

Jake laughed. He had missed this. Just a quiet evening, good friends, a light drink…

He made the mistake of checking his watch. Ten minutes past ten. Later than she’d told him. Shit.

He did not run a light on his way home but he was sorely tempted. He chewed his lip in fearful anticipation. Ten minutes late… plus the drive home.

She was… too calm when he got there. Perfect makeup. Smiles. A kiss on the cheek.

He was almost too nervous to concentrate at work the next day. Around lunch he sent flowers from one of those agencies. He really did care for her, and sometimes the flowers helped.

Jake got home again to a terrible sight. The flowers were cut to near-unrecognizable pieces on the counter. They had been spread in a circle on the table to frame yet another of their wedding pictures, torn to shreds. He really should have gotten them digitized after last time, they’d have none left if this kept happening.

On the counter was a note written in almost calligraphic handwriting. “Hope you liked the surprise dear! Can’t wait til you see the rest!” It was signed with a lipstick imprint of a kiss.

Shit. This was going to be a long week…